Monster in the Waters
by Epient
Summary: Both teams have been watching our timeline for people suitable for their experiments. They found one in me. Reviews would be greatly appreciated so I know I'm not turning into a massive Mary Sue.
1. Chapter 1

It happened at expo that year. I was charging around playing capture-the-flag with the other cosplayers, enjoying my success as the best female Scout with a hockey stick as I tripped up the opposing team's Heavy for the second time that day. I had been surprised at how he hadn't seen it coming by now. I wrangled a drink from our Sniper during a temporary 'cease-fire'. It was getting hot and most of us were getting overheated, especially that one Pyro. I didn't blame the fourty-something guy dressed as Spy for dressing as Spy, after all when I hit his age I'd be doing the same thing, just with Scout's mum. He even had the accent down pat and was in the middle of a hushed French conversation with some other Spy cosplayer (RED and BLU respectively). I'd tried listening in to test my schoolgirl level French and found I couldn't understand a word of it, the bastards spoke faster than I'd ever heard anyone speak before (save for me around my parents but that's not my fault). I pulled my hair back into a ponytail as our makeshift Administrator shouted down the field that the mission started in sixty seconds and edged away from the Saxton Hale that was trying to put an arm around her waist.

I could hear the Scout next to me counting down the seconds under his breath, we had three Scouts (including myself) and this one had done a good job of it.

"Five!" _Five._

"Four!" _Four._

"Three!"_ Three._

"Two!"_ Two._

"One!"_ One._

The Scouts charged, the one that had been next to me jokingly waving his bat in the air as he danced around a Demo that was clearly having too much fun acting drunk and I headed off to the side, up the stone steps and around to the back. Admittedly that was a bit of a Spy move but my knee was playing up and I couldn't afford to get into a bat (hockey stick) fight with one of the other Scouts again. No one noticed me stand right next to the BLU flag and pose for a few pictures until I yanked the flag from the floor and ran straight through the middle of the crowd.

Waiting for me was that BLU Spy I saw before.

I raised the hockey stick, ready to sweep him off his feet.

And everything.

Just.

Went.

Black.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up in a chair. My mind stalled briefly as I stared at the throng of men standing in front of me. I hoped to whatever god there was that this was some stupid game the cosplayers were playing on me because we definitely didn't have an Engineer.

The look in half their faces was what made me realise it wasn't a game. The Sniper looked predatory, like a coiled snake; the Spy just couldn't conceal that gleam of hunger in his eyes; the Medic wasn't even trying to hide his sadistic smirk (maybe the Nazi Medic idea wasn't so farfetched as I'd first thought) and the Scout, even as the youngest team member had that hardened edge to him. Engineer looked apologetic and it was that look he gave me that made me stop looking like a deer trapped in the headlights of a car and hunch over to give them the look that sent the boys in my classes running for cover. Spy laughed.

"Eef you are trying to intimidate us, you needn't bozzer." He said, fiddling with the watch on his wrist (The default one, I noted).

I didn't say anything, instead focused on chewing a hole in my lip to blot out the pain of rubbing my wrists raw against the rope binding my hands. I'd already tried unknotting them (I'm rather good at doing it without looking I'm pleased to say) but the bastards just weren't coming undone. I don't think the team counted on me being a lot more flexible than the other team members because my hand folded itself in tight enough for me to wrench the rope off of my right wrist. I kept a hold on them because that Scout was approaching, a sick grin plastered over his face and as he leant in and grabbed my chin in his hand, I reacted. I knocked his feet out from under him with my leg and pulled him towards me, jumping up from my seat to wind the rope around his neck and pull it tight enough that the man began to choke.

"Enough." The Medic said.

The tone in his voice was enough to make me drop the rope around Scout's neck and he fell to the floor coughing and swearing unhappily. I joined in the cursing once I realised what I'd done and that the Medic was now approaching me, one of his hands in the pocket of his coat. I'm ashamed to say I squeaked when he got close enough, that deer-in-the-headlights look came back. He pulled his hand out of his coat and out with it came-

A lollypop.

I couldn't bite back the phrase that just dripped off of my tongue like so much honey. Medic looked down his nose disdainfully at me as I glared up at him. He waved the lolly in front of my face and I grabbed it, wrenched the wrapper off and shoved it in my mouth. Positive reinforcement. And I never could deny blackcurrant lollypops. I collapsed back onto the chair and unpicked the rope from my wrist with a little difficulty, damned Spies tying their knots too tight. Medic went back to his place next to the hulking Heavy while Scout spat curses at me from across the room while he was examining the rope burns around his neck. I very calmly assessed my situation, cracked the lollypop in half with my teeth and fainted sideways.


	3. Chapter 3

I really don't want to get used to waking up in foreign surroundings. I lay on the bed in the infirmary, staring at the ceiling and listening to Medic hum some German song to himself. It was making me feel sleepy, the warm buzzing of the duff light in the corner, Medic's jackboots stomping backwards and forwards across the white tile. At least, I thought it was white, I hadn't moved to check. For all I'd known it might've been stained red. I yawned all of a sudden and Medic turned around to face me, wielding a rather long looking needle that had made me go all deer-in-the-headlights again. My eyes darted between his face and the needle in his hand a couple of times before he put it down very slowly and approached me like someone would've come up to a wild animal that had a history of biting (like myself). I pushed myself back into the concrete wall behind me and glared at him but his only reaction was to smirk and continue walking forward. Honestly, who the hell was I kidding, he must've seen much more terrifying things out doing his job, let alone whatever he was up to in his past. He grabbed the back of my ponytail, causing me to hiss and almost fall off of the table when he started dragging. I grabbed his hand with my own and tried to pry him away as he pulled me across the infirmary towards where he left the needle. The cold bit into my skin when he slammed me down onto the table, the various instruments rattled unhappily and I pressed my hands against the metal table, trying vainly to push away from where Medic was now scraping a needle tip against my skin. I whimpered as I felt the needle push in, gritting my teeth against the horrid sensation. Not soon enough, he withdrew the needle and let go of my hair, leaving me to lean against the table and scratch at the tiny little hole in my skin that he'd left behind.

"The hell was in that?" I growled, trying not to think about needles and wasps and small sharp pointy things.

"We haf to keep you healthy on ze battlefield today." He laughed, completely not answering my question and giving me another one to boot.

"What? Today? You have got to be joking." I couldn't even fire a gun, let alone fight against god knows what sort of hardened wankers out there.

"Nein, nein, of course I am not joking, you haf ten minutes, go und wait wiz Engineer."

He shuffled me out of the infirmary, pushing lightly on my shoulder blades before handing me another blackcurrant lollypop and slamming the door shut in my face. I heard a lock click and I turned and walked away, muttering unhappily under my breath about the injustice of it all. Stolen from my timeline, knocked out by the creepy shit in that lollypop that Medic'd given me (of course), jabbed by another fucking needle and kicked out before I could knock his shins in. I met Scout while I was wandering aimlessly around the barracks and convinced him to lead me to where Engie was by promising not to strangle him again. He had rope burn around his neck.

As we walked (Scout was lost too I was sure of it) I found myself wondering what was going to happen today, do they have respawn here, which map am I on, how the fuck am I getting home and what the hell was in Medic's needle because I was feeling different. Not bad different, not quite hypochondriac different, just different. I wondered if the BLU Scout was as easy to knock over as the RED. That day I found myself making it a bit of a mission to survive and cause as much havoc as possible.


	4. Chapter 4

When we finally found Engie, I had to explain at least three times I had no idea how to shoot a gun. He tried giving me one of Spy's pistols and when I quite bluntly explained the recoil would most likely leave me with black eyes by the end of the day he gave up and sent Scout to find my hockey stick. I was sitting on top of a table, rolling the lollypop around in my mouth when Engineer came over to see how I was coping.

"Alright, I guess. Considering I've been dragged out of my own timeline, drugged and told I've got to take part in your stupid battles, I think I'm fairing pretty damned well."

Engie laughed and leant against the table I was sitting on. From a couple of passing glances I could tell he was roughly the same height as me but built like a tank, especially in the upper body. I felt sorry for the BLU Spy if he ever managed to get his hands on him.

"That's good, wouldn't want you breaking down on us in the middle of the battle."

I put my chin in my hands and swung my legs a bit. "To be honest with you I'm going to be fairly useless."

"Well if ya die you'll just respawn so you might as well give it a go." He said, patting me on the back roughly before walking away to some other area of his workshop.

Thank fuck for that, I thought, at least they have respawn here. They must've set me up in the system while I was out of it (totally didn't faint). Despite this reassuring thought I decided I was going to hide behind Engie's dispenser today and not move at all.

I'd like to say my plan worked fairly well...to an extent. It was when the BLU Spy decided to show his face that it went to pot. He found me leaning against the dispenser, arms wrapped around my hockey stick and just laughed at me.

Fucking laughed.

I sat there shaking as this guy just stands there and laughs his stupid French laugh (can really see why Scout calls it 'faggy') at me. He doesn't even bat an eyelid when Engie comes tearing around the corner, wielding a wrench. Nope, all he says is 'so you 'av one too?' And vanishes into thin air.

Now Engie, he didn't look pleased. I didn't know if he was pissed at me or at the BLU Spy but boy did he look pissed at something. He hauled me up by my arm and dragged me over to the door of the room and kicked me out, leaving me to stand shaking in my ill-fitting half-a-Scout uniform and face-to-face with the very very real possibillity of death.

I think I can describe in fairly accurate terms how terrified I was.

"Fuck."


	5. Chapter 5

Guess who completely forgot about this.

It was easy enough to stick to the sides at first; all I could hear from the battle field were explosions and the Soldiers shouting insults at everyone. The place was a hell of a lot bigger than I'd realised whenever I played it. The bases were colossal. I know why Scouts always complained that they got lost now. I sank into a corner inside one of the wooden shacks that littered the edges and hid behind a crate. Fuck it if I'm getting involved in a battle like that, respawn or no.

I spent what must have been about five minutes hiding behind this crate when I hear a roaring shout from outside. It sounds a lot like a Heavy. Fuck. If it's the BLU Heavy I'm royally screwed. Maybe if I stay really quiet he won't come in here and shoot me full of holes. I try and slow my frantic breathing enough for it to be masked by the roar of gunfire which is getting closer and closer. I push my head between my knees, squeezing my eyes closed and bit my bottom lip. I know I'm acting like a coward, I know I must look pathetic but I can't do anything else, I just can't.

Eventually, the roar of gunfire fades away and I'm left alone in my corner again. I'm just about to gather the courage to get up and get outside when the door is flung open, the BLU's Sniper stalking in with long strides. He spots me almost immediately, raising an eyebrow behind his yellow-tinted aviators.

"Who're you?" He asks. His hands aren't anywhere near the kukri at his side, he obviously doesn't see me as a threat. And he's right.

"I-I'm- I mean I'm- the REDs they-"

"Yeah, yeah, wotever." He brushes me off, pulling a couple of bullets from his pocket-thing and slipping them into the chamber of his rifle.

I'm ashamed to say I squeaked.

"I'm not shootin' you," he chuckles, taking a seat on a crate by the window and setting up to take a couple of potshots at the REDs.

I still couldn't think of my kidnappers as _my _team. They were sadistic nutjobs. The most ironic part, I suppose, is that was the way I portrayed them in the fanfiction I'd written. It all seemed so far away now, the time I'd spent curled up behind my laptop seemed so distant compared to the roar of battle outside.

"Cover yer ears." The Sniper said, slowly taking in a breath.

With another undignified squeak, I clapped my hands over my ears seconds before he fired. The shot was like thunder in the tiny room, the noise made my ears ring for hours after.

"Wanker." He spat, getting up from his seat.

He must have missed. I don't squeak as he strides past me this time, but he does glance back at me, muttering something that sounds like it could be 'poor bugger'. I agree with him.

Save for a brief run in with the BLU's Scout I managed to keep myself hidden for the rest of the day, by the time the Admin called an end to the fighting with a gleeful 'Victory' I was more than ready to go home and forget this had ever happened. I trailed in behind the rest of the group, pointedly avoiding eye contact with the rest of them. The entire team save for Medic and I were celebrating, loud and raucous laughter coupled with the occasional explosion as the enibriated Demo and Soldier threw a grenade or rocket back to the defeated BLUs. Medic grabbed my arm, not too hard but enough to make me worry, and steered me towards a large high-tech board at the end of the debrief room.

"Zhis records every kill you make. I did not expect you to make any today but I expected you to haff died at least once." He looked down at me with a slight smile. "Well done, you must be farely elusive. Perhaps you would do to be a Spy."

I didn't know how to take that and he steered me back towards the celebrations where I was pried with alcohol until I only vaguely remembered hitting on the Sniper.

I woke up the next morning, luckily enough sans hangover- Greek heritage and years of drinking competitions would do that to you- and hastily thrown on a bed. The room was sparse, Spartan even, and unused save for the bedclothes kicked on the floor. It turns out, what had woken me was Soldier's apparently regular early morning wakeup that consisted of 'yankee doodle' on a trumpet while he marched down the corridor, kicking in doors.

My door was kicked to with a shout of 'WAKE UP PRIVATE' and a garbage bag thrown at my head. The black sack contained a set of red, pinstriped, three piece suits, form-fitting and somehow tailored exactly to me. The team's Spy appeared in my doorway while I was glaring at a waistcoat, prompting a brief smirk from the...European.

"Wot?" I turned my glare onto him, another smirk.

"Medic told me I should teach you to be a Spy." He said, eyes brifely flitting around the room and the state of dissaray I'd put it in, in my 'attempt' to put it into some sort of homely state. Which meant clothes everywhere.

I didn't stop glaring at him until he told me where to meet him later and left, leaving me to sort out exactly how you put these stupid clothes on. I left the waistcoat on the back of my chair, the tie half done and tied the jacket around my waist. I'd sort it all out if there was a battle- not that I'd be doing much, the idea of burning to death was not pleasant, nor was it an activity high on my list of things to do- but for now I was going casual Spy. There wasn't a point to keeping my identity secret, I didn't even belong in this timeline, I didn't exist, so the Zorro-style mask was shoved into a pocket until further notice.

Spy's instuctions as to where to meet him were easy enough to follow, the creeper actually seemed to have a semblance of intelligence, unlike the Scout who I'd seen twice in the space of twenty minutes. He seemed determined to pay me back for the slam I'd given him, the verbal barbs weren't nearly as effective as the baseball he slammed into my head (which I promptly shoved down my shirt, there was no way he was getting that back) and by the time I found Spy I was very angry and ready to take it out on the poncy Frenchman.

"Bonjour cheri," he said, turning to face me with that shit-eating grin of his.

I pulled the baseball out of my shirt and threw it at him. It didn't connect, I didn't expect it to but the thought was there.

"Been chatting weezh zee Scout?" He flipped the ball around in his hand and tossed it away before sauntering towards me.

"He's a tosser." I growled, crossing my arms and glaring at Spy. He just laughed.

"Your uniform eez wrong." He sighed with mirth, still smirking at me slightly.

"I don't give a flying fuck!"

I stamped a foot and turned away from him. I was pushing my luck here, the Spy was a sneaky bastard, but he didn't seem without honour. I, however, was toeing the line into Scout territory. Childishness. Did I care? Nope.

"I am trying to do you a favour." He sighed again, this time sounding a little dissapointed. "We don't want you just _dying _out there."

I didn't know it then, but what Spy taught me then would become ingrained into my head as a lifesaver.


End file.
